Blue Force Gear Quote of the Day: A Chicagoan Discovers a Gun Store

“There was a mom, dad and 6-year-old son doing the paperwork to buy a handgun, and a guy complaining about the sight on the gun he had recently purchased. Yet these little bits of shaped metal and plastic, fired from slightly larger steel and plastic, have caused and will continue to cause unspeakable pain and sorrow. Bullets speed through the air ripping into the flesh and organs of human beings from the worst criminals to first-grade schoolchildren. I was struck by the banality of it all. Potential lethalness sold with the casualness of prescription medicine.” – John Hubbuch in Field notes from a Florida expedition [at oakpark.com] [h/t JL]

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Given the lethal nature of so many prescriptions medicines when misused, maybe he should re-think his comparison. The CC gun under the shirt has no bad side effects (most of us would argue has good side effects), in contrast to many prescription medicines.

Big Pharma has exponentially greater lobbying power and money than the NRA.

Miss-use, predictable side effects, and impact of withdrawal from prescription medication (particularly anti-depressants and anti-psychotics) are contributing factors in many if not all recent major spree-killing events.

You won’t see the media or politicians taking up this narrative any time soon, however. There are more Americans taking these types of drugs than there are Americans owning guns. It’s a scary topic to tackle for that reason. Way easier to point the blame at guns than at the underlying factors which contribute to or lead to their abuse.

“I was concerned that the employees would have “gun-dar” that would immediately reveal my poser status. I was relieved that my “just looking” was a successful ploy, allowing me to avoid any discussion about caliber, fire power or prey.”

Would he have felt better if there was a great sense of urgency and panic about the sales? Perhaps if the conversations the customers were having had been confused and uncertain of the details of their purchases he would have been more comfortable? Anything except the customers being calm, filling out the required background check information, speaking knowledgeably and spending time together as a family!

The reality is NOTHING would have eased this guys mind except the site of every customer being turned away because they were not active law enforcement in uniform.

Made the mistake of reading the full article. John Hubbuch in Field notes from a Florida expedition This guy is nothing more than a bitter old fart baby boomer, trying to remain relative by writing snide sarcastic article.
Nothing to see here, move along.

“Potential lethalness sold with the casualness of prescription medicine.”

Would that be the same prescription medicine that, even when properly prescribed, still kills over 100,000 Americans per year? Since only about 10,000 Americans are killed by people with guns every year, the “potential lethalness” of medicine, when used as directed, is an order of magnitude higher than guns, it would seem. That’s not even counting the overdoses and abusers and kids who accidentally poison themselves with prescription drugs…

And that’s just the deaths. There are something like 2.5 million cases a year of adverse reactions to prescription drugs that occur either while under hospital care or require the person to be hospitalized. The number of people injured but not killed by bullets (counting both violence and negligence) is well under 100,000.

“But the good done by prescription medicines far outweighs the damage done!” is what people will say when confronted with these statistics. Hmmmm… I wonder if there’s another class of items with a similar record…

I wonder if he knows that I 95 has a northbound lane?? We are flooded with people like this every winter. A few years ago I was in my LGS when one of these chi-rack loonys came in. The clerk showed them the door after reason and the laws of ALABAMA were explained, with southern charm. It made my blood boil and I wanted to buy 2 guns.

the CDC says: ” The United States is in the midst of a prescription overdose epidemic.” http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/ CDC further states: “Every day in the United States, 44 people die as a result of prescription opioid overdose.”
ok so prescription drugs are pretty bad!

I’ve noticed that a lot of antis don’t talk much about guns when they write against them. They talk about torn flesh and shattered lives; what thy are really speaking out against is mortality. In our culture of materialism (not “consumerism,” but philosophical materialism), death is annihilation, and it horrifies people who believe in nothing beyond themselves. So, they aren’t calmly evaluating the dangers and benefits of guns; if they thought that way they’d write more about cars and medical malpractice and heart disease. Since the gun is something other people use, the antis turn it into a symbol of their own mortality, and then try to slay the dragon. This guy’s older and he is obviously looking down a shortening road to his own demise, and it scares and angers him. To antis, they aren’t trying to take away other people’s civil rights, they’re trying to kill death. It doesn’t matter how much sense your arguments make when that’s who you’re talking to. They need religion, or therapy…

Funny thing… he doesn’t realize Illinois gun stores are pretty much the same, with the possible exception of waiting periods. Illinois gun stores get crowded because you have to go there twice to buy a gun.

The one I was in yesterday it was all range line! It took an hour and a half to get a lane. I need land I tells ya. Yes there were a few pickups but nothing like the wait. Hell there wasn’t even space in the parking lot for everyone.

He tries to write like Stephen Fry and Douglas Adams with a dry sarcastic wit but ends up merely insulting the things he seemingly deliberately went to be exposed to. There are other warm places in the world. Many are not populated by the sort of people that seem to dominate the only state to have its own Fark tag.

“Potential lethalness sold with the casualness of prescription medicine.”

So he was at a car dealership? Cars kill several times more people per year than guns, yet not one person has spoken out for car control – in fact, most states have lowered the age to get your learners permit from 16 to 15 or 15.5.

John Hubbuch – gun hater, assumes people are by default, morons, incapable of taking responsibility for their possessions and actions, perpetuating the myth that people shouldn’t have the freedom to make their own decisions or take responsibility for their lives, and are imbeciles for not handing such decisions to the state for a vote.

Having grown up in the adjoining suburb of Forest Park, we all developed a certain disdain for Oak Parkers. Oak Park was essentially dry so Oak Parkers would raid Forest park bars (we had plenty of them). If a gal found out you actually were from Forest Park, you got looked down upon like you were some sort of hillbilly ditch digger (apologies to all hillbilly ditch diggers) even though they came into your town to hang out. River Forest is an adjoining town to Oak Park (actually all three border each other) but it was another “our poop don’t stink” place so Oak Parkers love to refer to the area as Oak Park-River Forest (ignoring all else including the violent Chicago neighborhood of Austin on the east side of Oak Park).

Someone once told me, “You know, Oak Park would be a nice place if you could get rid of all the Oak Parkers.”

Yep Sir Zog. An Oak Park goofball. The capital of left-wing losers. I lived nearby and did a lot of business in the environs. NO gun shops there. I don’t know how they can stand abutting Chiraq and Austin Avenue. No wonder his (Floriduh)brother dissed him. I would too…

What a douchebag.
“stranger in a strange land” it’s called ‘MERICA you idjit!
“casualness of prescription medicine”… when’t the last time your pharmacist casually sold you prescription medication without a prescription, ID, insurance card and 10-minute waiting period?
Some people should have their KEYBOARDS confiscated!

HAD to zip this in before reading any of the other comments. I just asked my brother (a Registered Pharmacist with about 40 years experience) what percentage of prescribed medications are or can be lethal. His answer; ‘At least 80 percent.’

So….I read the whole post this guy wrote-he’s clearly bat crap nuts…why are we giving him a platform to act crazy in public–I totally agree with most of the above comments, just suggesting that maybe we should just ignore these weirdos in the future instead of giving them recognition and legitamacy. The post that preceeded this-his expedition to “Ulta”….beyond weird.